Things making me happy this week

• Journaling: it’s so wonderful to indulge in your own mind. It’s like taking a walk after a long day of sitting at a desk. You forget you had such wonderful muscles/thoughts.
• Learning so much from my attendings (my old ICM preceptors…we go way back)…Dr. H and Dr. S have both taught me so much about not just diagnosis and management of specific disorders, but clinical thinking and management. Here are some examples -
• Be mindful of the labs & tests you order: Don’t order a set of labs just because some preceptor at some point taught you to do so, think about whether or not the results would actually change your treatment plan. For hyponatremia, if you have a clinical diagnosis of true hypovolemia causing a hypotonic hyponatremia, then just start a trial of IVF hydration, and see what happens…if they respond, then that confirms your diagnosis! If you actually got labs, and the results point more toward SIADH, then what are you going to do with that information? Give the patient a vaptan or demeclocycline when they’ve already responded to IVF hydration? No.
• Just because a patient’s outside PCP or previous physicians have decided that the patient is at her baseline but she’s clearly still hypertensive or hyperglycemic, don’t just assume this is just her normal. It’s not normal! Don’t give into clinical inertia!
• Anticipatory medicine: even though the bump in creatinine might not be technically acute renal failure (>0.3 increase in Cr, >50% increase in Cr, or UOP <0.5L/kg/hr over <48 hours), doesn’t mean it won’t be by the next AM labs.
• Look at everything in the patient’s clinical context! If the patient is floridly psychotic and/or unstable, you worry more about their mildly abnormal lab values and vitals than if they’re clinically normal and at baseline. You widen your differential to include more rare and scary diagnoses, and order more labs to rule them out.
• Even when I’m at my loneliest and most down-trodden moments, I’m so appreciative of the support and love I have from my friends. Remember that love. Remember all the moments we’ve shared together and will continue to have together and let that give you strength!
• Getting that 7-8 hours of sleep Wednesday night. It’s true. Your brain performs better on more rest than on more information.